Irish General Election, 2011

Irish General Election, 2011

The Irish general election of 2011 took place on Friday, 25 February, to elect 165 Teachtaí Dála across 43 constituencies to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of Ireland's parliament, the Oireachtas. The Dáil was dissolved and the general election called by President Mary McAleese on 1 February, at the request of Taoiseach Brian Cowen. The electorate was given the task of choosing the members of the 31st Dáil, who met on 9 March 2011 to nominate a Taoiseach and ratify the ministers of the Government of the 31st Dáil.

Cowen had previously announced on 20 January that the election would be held on 11 March, and that after the 2011 budget had been passed he would seek a dissolution of the 30th Dáil by the President. However, the Green Party, the junior party in coalition government with Cowen's Fianna Fáil, withdrew from government on 23 January, stating that they would support only a truncated finance bill from the opposition benches in order to force an earlier election. On 24 January, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, Jnr reached an agreement with the opposition in Dáil Eireann to complete all stages of passing the finance bill, in both houses of the Oireachtas, by 29 January—following which the Dáil was to be dissolved immediately. Constitutionally, an election must be held within 30 days after a Dáil dissolution.

Following the collapse of the coalition, the then minority governing party, Fianna Fáil, sought to minimise its losses following historically low poll ratings in the wake of the Irish financial crisis. Fine Gael sought to gain a dominant position in Irish politics after poor results in the 2000s, and to replace Fianna Fáil for the first time since 1927 as the largest party in Dáil Éireann. The Labour Party hoped to make gains from both sides, and was widely expected to become the second largest party and to enter into coalition government with Fine Gael; its highest ambition at the start of the campaign, buoyed by record poll ratings in preceding months, was to form the leading partner in government for the first time in the party's 99-year history. The Green Party, having been in coalition with Fianna Fáil during the Government of the 30th Dáil, faced stiff competition to retain its seats and was expected to lose at least four of its six seats. Sinn Féin was expected to make gains, encouraged by a by-election victory in November 2010 and by opinion polls which placed it ahead of Fianna Fáil. Some other left wing groups, including the Socialist Party, the People Before Profit Alliance and the Workers and Unemployed Action Group, contested the general election under a joint banner, the United Left Alliance.

Fianna Fáil was swept from power in the worst defeat of a sitting government since the formation of the Irish state in 1922. Fianna Fáil lost more than half of its first-preference vote from 2007 and garnered only 20 seats. It is the third-largest party in the 31st Dáil–the first time since the September 1927 election that it is not the largest party in the chamber. The Irish Times, Ireland's newspaper of record, described Fianna Fáil's meltdown as "defeat on a historic scale." Fine Gael won a record 76 seats to become the largest party in the Dáil for the first time in its 78-year history, while the Labour Party became the second largest party and Sinn Féin also increased its number of seats. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny became Taoiseach, in a coalition with Labour.